Russell Jones
Sustainability Problems
Film Annotation V
Trashed: This is the Story of Garbage . . . American Style, was directed by Bill Kirkos and released in 2007, is a film that communicates the issues with America’s waste and the problems that exist now and the problems that will come to be because of it. The film argues that if the United States as well as other affluent nations of the world continue to produce and waste, we will exhaust the resources of our planet in the near future and jeopardize the survival of the human race through the next centuries.
The most compelling points of the film were the statistics presented portrayed the magnitude of waste our country alone produces. The images of the destruction of the environment are shocking as we see the nature that we rely on being ruined in order to bury trash in the ground. The most persuasive points of the film include the interviews with environmental professionals and an interview the corporate executive officer of Waste Management who highlighted that if Americans continued to waste in the fashion that we do, our civilization would basically have to find a new place to live. This emphasizes the issue is there is nowhere else to go when the earth’s resources are exhausted.
The least compelling points are given during the segment about global warming. It is my opinion that in many cases, people devote too much of their attention towards global warming and not enough on the conservation of our resources and our environment. Through the conservation of resources and our environment, global warming will be deterred. When people focus on global warming and not on the goods that they purchase, they are not as effective in their environmental conscientiousness.
The film best address anyone from middle school ages and up. It helps to change the way that consumers will purchase goods. Hopefully with the film, many will purchase with their waste in mind after seeing the film. The film suggests intervention by communities in denying businesses the right to use land for land-filling. The film also suggests intervention by corporations becoming sustainable with the example of Cool Blue Carpeting.
The environmental educational value of this film is at a high level as scientific literacy is promoted through statistics and correlations between environmental issues and waste volumes. The film is balanced as it portrays the opinions of the waste removal companies, other corporations, and everyday people. The film helps people to see that the market can be controlled by the consumers in order to determine how goods are produced.
Sustainability Problems
Film Annotation V